How High Intensity Cools Down Hot Flashes

We admit that many of our pieces don’t focus exclusively on women. To our defense, that’s because so few studies actually focus on women. But two new studies are different, showing that high intensity fitness may be one of the greatest ways to relieve hot flashes.

First off, what is a hot flash? According to this article:

As estrogen levels drop with the onset of menopause, many women become less adept, physiologically, at dealing with changes to internal and external temperatures. The result, famously, is the hot flash (also known as a hot flush), during which women can feel sudden, overwhelming heat and experience copious sweating, a problem that in some cases can linger for years.

There are some drug treatments, but each one has side effects. Researchers discovered that light to moderate exercise did not seem to help relieve hot flashes.

So exercise researchers checked out the impact of HIIT on hot flashes.

They gathered together 21 menopausal women who suffered from hot flashes but did not exercise. 14 of them then began exercise regimens, which over four months kept increasing in intensity.

Then they tested the women again to see if there were any differences, and there most definitely were.

The women who had gone through the exercise regimen not only suffered less intense hot flashes, but they suffered far fewer of them. In fact, the decline was a staggering 60% less instances compared to those who didn’t exercise.

The bad news? Well, aside from this being a fairly small study, these results only come about if you actually get out there really push yourself. Taking the stairs every day is not going to get rid of hot flashes, but running up 15 flights at a moderate pace may do the trick. Or….ahem… a couple of visits to Cardio High.

-Shane M.